Longer brew time?
Hi. I was just thinking, that if you were going to make a whole pot of tea or just a lot of it could you just leave some oolong tea leaves in for extra long? I have some oolong where I can use it at least 8 times before it starts getting weaker. So could I just leave in a normal amount for a longer time to yield the same results?
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Aug 7th, '06, 10:40
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Stronger Oolong
Your comment sounds like a good argument and would seem logical of infusing the leaves longer for a larger infusion. However, 8 infusions is very different from that of a single-longer infusion. When you make short infusions you are removing the tea from water and the temp (I assume) not allowing the tea to release the full extent of the polyphenols or tannins making the tea bitter. Anything longer than 4 min is not conducive to a cup of good tea; and this is why small infusions are ideal. Each time you take the tea out of the water, you are "starting over" the brewing process so to speak and cooling the leaves. Anything longer than that your pushing it. Of course there are exeptions such as in pu-erhs. I would encourage you not to steep any tea longer than the recommended time.
Re: Longer brew time?
i brew my leaves in 6oz of water 8 times for 5 mins each. i also combine all 8 cups into a pitcher so it all gets averaged out, it's not like i'm drinking the weakest cup of tea just by itself.filiagro wrote:Hi. I was just thinking, that if you were going to make a whole pot of tea or just a lot of it could you just leave some oolong tea leaves in for extra long? I have some oolong where I can use it at least 8 times before it starts getting weaker. So could I just leave in a normal amount for a longer time to yield the same results?